{Crazy} Endicott Life

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

A few months ago when I was submitting my work schedule, I had intended on scheduling myself off for Labor Day weekend. Unfortunately, I screwed up somewhere in the process and submitted a blank schedule. By the time I learned of my mistake everyone had taken the good shifts and I was left working split up days (which sucks when you work nights), and I did not get the holiday weekend off like I'd hoped. On the bright side, the yoga festival that I have been going to the past couple of years is scheduled in October instead of Labor Day weekend... so that made it okay.

The kids just couldn't hold in their excitement to go hiking!

Since we couldn't go on a fun vacation, we decided to do a mini day trip. We drove up past Bogus Basin Ski Resort and on to Shafer Butte, where we went on a nice little hike. The trail made a loop from Shafer Butte to Mores Mountain, but we weren't able to complete the whole thing with the kiddos tagging along. Cris and I took turns carrying Chloe in the hiking backpack, but she was just getting over a cold and wasn't quite back to her bubbly self. Karson did a lot better than I'd expected, but there were a few complaints here and there.

We had intended on BBQing after our hike, but to our dismay there were fire restrictions that ruined that plan. So instead we drove around and explored the mountains, then had dinner at Chili's. Overall we enjoyed our mini vacation, and would like to go back and explore the area some more. There were lots of trails for hiking, and the views were amazing!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Little Chloe was quite spoiled for her birthday this year. We have pretty much been celebrating it all month! On her actual birthday we went out for pizza, then I took Karson to the airport to fly to Granny's all by himself. After I got back, we took Chloe to a park with a splash pad for some fun in the sun. Cris had a work party to go to, so Chloe sang herself happy birthday and blew out her candles LOL.

Helping with the
cupcakes

Rainbow tutus!

We had a rainbow fiesta for her the following Saturday so my parents could come up and celebrate with us. Chloe loves rainbows and everyone that came to her party last year really loved the fiesta... so we combined the two. Soooo much fun! There were lots of little friends that were able to make it, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Chloe got lots of fun gifts and has been enjoying each one of them! We were so happy to have so many friends to celebrate with and we can't wait to do it again!

Gettin' muddy at the Dirty Dash before the party

These rainbow cupcakes were fun to make...
thanks to Chloe and Ashley's help :)

Friday, May 15, 2015

For Mother's day weekend we decided to plan a random trip to Tillamook, Oregon. I have been dreaming about a vacation to the Oregon coast for some time now, and finally decided to just make it happen. Groupon had a deal at the Ashley Inn in Tillamook, so I found some free time in my work schedule and booked a room.

Wednesday evening, Cris was able to leave work early so we hit the road as soon as we were packed and ready to go. We drove to Pendleton, and stayed with his sweet grandma for the night. Thursday morning we got up around 6 a.m. and headed for Tillamook. I have to say that I enjoyed not being in a hurry to get to our destination. Driving was all part of the adventure, which is rare in my book. We stopped at Multnomah Falls and hiked up to the 611 foot tall water fall, took some pictures and enjoyed the beautiful view. About 30 miles out, we had to make a pit stop while driving through the windy roads of the Tillamook State Forest to wash Chloe's carseat out in the river... poor kiddo got carsick and threw up twice on the way to Pendleton, then twice on the second leg of our journey. Karson also got sick once, which left us with no more bags to catch the puke in... all I can say is that I'm thankful there was a washer and dryer at our hotel!

We were too early to check in, so we had a late lunch at Pelican Brewery. Karson and Cris played shuffleboard, and I chased Chloe around. None of us could be happier to be out of the car. After lunch we were able to check into our room, then Cris and the kids went swimming. I sat in the hot tub for a bit, then Chloe and I hung out in the sauna (we were pretty stoked about that amenity). When the kids were done swimming, Cris took us to see Cape Meares lighthouse and the Octopus tree. Both were amazing! We swung by Oceanside Beach afterwards, then had some dinner (Main Street Pizza in Tillamook- best food we had all weekend!) and headed to bed.

Friday morning, we decided to rent a little boat and go crabbing. Karson loved it! He got to throw the buoys out and help reel them back in. He also had the job of catching the crabs that escaped and tossing them back out of the boat. Chloe and I were pretty great spectators ;-) The bay we were in had a beach where seals like to hang out, so we drove past them and watched them sunbathe and play in the water... so fun! At the end of our 2 hours, Cris threw all our pots in one last time and ended up catching 2 crabs that were big enough to keep (he pulled in tons of crabs, but they had all been too small until we pulled in our last pot)! We went back to the docks, and they cooked our crabs for us right on the spot. Cris and Karson got the honors of eating the hearts... yuck!

We headed back to the hotel for more swimming, then had dinner and went back to Oceanside Beach. Cris and Karson made a fire and we watched the most amazing sunset. The kids and I made some yummy s'mores too. Both of the kids crashed as soon as we got in the car.

Cannon Beach

The Candyman Store

Saturday morning we drove up to Cannon Beach and let the kids play in the sand and the waves. Karson loved it, even though the water was freezing! We had lunch at Mo's, then headed to Seaside to see The Candyman. The kids each got a lollipop and giant Pixie Stix. They were so excited! We walked over to the beach, then decided that there were way too many people in Seaside and headed back to explore the cheese factory. The Tillamook cheese samples were so yummy! But the ice cream line was way too long, so we skipped it thinking that we could get Tillamook ice cream anywhere in the town where it's made... but we were so wrong. Lucky for us, the kids didn't actually care what kind of ice cream they had, so they settled for what we found at the grocery store. The kids of course needed to go swimming one last time, then we had dinner and turned in for the night.

Tillamook Cheese Factory

Playground break in Pendleton

Sunday was a long day of driving. We were smarter this time and gave both of the kids Dramamine, so there was no carsickness to be had... phew! It took us a little under 10 hrs to get home (including a 1hr stop in Pendleton to see Cris's grandmas), and the kids actually handled it pretty well. We were all happy to be home and out of the car, but we sure did enjoy our vacation and can't wait to visit the coast again!

Thursday, April 23, 2015

This year we decided to do a Big Hero 6 theme for Karson's 8th birthday. That's right, I said 8TH birthday!!! How is he that old already?! He originally wanted to do his party at Jump Time... but I'm selfish and I don't like going to those places. So instead I rented a bounce house... super fun! We rented it through Idaho Inflatables, and they were great! They brought the bounce house over a couple hours early and picked it up about 1.5 hours late, so we had it for 7.5hrs instead of the 4hrs we paid for.

The problem with April birthdays is that you never know what the weather is going to do. Unfortunately, it was a little chilly and it rained almost all day :( but the kids didn't mind. Karson had a soccer game at 1:30 (which we found out about after I had sent out the birthday invitations), so he was a little late for his own party. The party guests were excited to surprise him when he got home though, so it all worked out.

I had a handful of activities planned out to keep the kids entertained, but didn't end up doing any of them. The kids just wanted to jump in the bounce house, and I was fine with that! Definitely a fun party :) And my parents came up, which always makes things even better!